Be quick, they are waking up (Despacha, que dispiertan.)
Original title: Plate 78 from 'Los Caprichos': Be quick, they are waking up (Despacha, que dispiertan.)
kurzbeschreibung
“Despacha, que dispiertan” — “Hurry up, they are waking” — is the Spanish title of plate 78 from Francisco de Goya’s series Los Caprichos, published in 1799. Two figures in plain clothing are shown rising wearily from a table, one of them holding a broom. The image was executed as a drypoint etching combined with burnished aquatint.
Description
Two people are still seated at a table, looking exhausted; the figure in front, holding a broom, is about to stand, while the one behind also rises. Their simple clothing points to a life of poverty, such as laborers or peasants might lead. The background recedes almost entirely and remains dark, pushing the bodies to the fore. Subdued light spreads across the layout and adds to the somber mood.
Context
Between 1797 and 1799 Goya worked on Los Caprichos, which he conceived as a critical survey of contemporary Spanish society. Within the series, plate 78 belongs to the later works, in which superstition, social injustice, and human weakness are addressed. The series emerged at a time when Goya was detaching himself from his position as court painter and increasingly producing socially critical images.
Impact
The dark tonality and the exhausted figures create an oppressive, almost suffocating atmosphere. Because the arrangement remains simple and direct, human exhaustion takes center stage; the effect is quiet but insistent.
Technique
Goya combined etching with burnished aquatint, a process that allows fine tonal gradations. Etched lines and aquatint areas interlock, producing soft transitions and dramatic lighting. The plate measures 21.4 × 15 cm, the sheet 31.8 × 22.4 cm.
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Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)